As befits a combat information center room, the bulkheads were tough, and we had to double-wrap the locking explosives to barely manage prying it open.
It is an ancient custom to toss in a flashbang as a courtesy before entering a breached door, but this time, instead of an OQ bomb, I threw in a non-lethal stungrenade. Before departure, considering the possibility of engaging in melee combat, I thought it prudent to bring one, and it hasn’t gone bad yet.
Indeed, with the remnants of the old human standards, given the room packed with consoles and whatnot, tossing in a grenade could potentially ruin everything inside.
[“Throw it in!”] [“Clear!!”]
The agile Tech Gobs and Sylvanians, leading the team, slipped in first and took down the escort guards and Gear Priests, who were stunned by the flashbangs. The CIC was fully cleared.
Good. If they had been preparing for a self-destruction to prevent capture, it would have been disastrous.
“Alright! Everyone, set up intercept positions! Don’t let the enemy near! Let’s try to capture this ship!”
“Got it, Nozomu! Leave the command to me!”
Handing over the rest to the enthusiastic Galatea, I immediately began to take control of the ship. There are likely surviving crew members inside, so it’ll take some effort, but if you can buy us some time, that’d be great.
There’s not much time. The military mindset is to destroy rather than be captured, and we don’t know when the rear Aigaion Class will notice the capture of the ship and fire their main guns at us.
[“Congratulations on capturing the enemy ship, Lieutenant.”] “Thanks. What about the Aigaion Class movements?”
A brief pause, and the report came that they were still continuing to bombard the outer edge of the forest. Good, as expected, without a satellite, there’s no data link to the rear lines. The captain retains command authority, and the operation is proceeding as planned without deviation.
However, if they’ve managed to uncover so many facilities, it’s reasonable to infer they’ve acquired some form of long-range communication method. We have no way of knowing when “Target Alpha” will realize it’s been compromised, so we must move swiftly.
“Selene, did we bring a manual for this model of console?”
[“Unfortunately, we don’t have the Zodiac Republic’s manual. While we managed the Titan-2 because it had onboard drivers, this one wasn’t designed with our direct interface in mind, so there’s no convenient option available, I suspect.”] “That’s right.”
The Briareos Project’s vessels are designed with the intention that Zodiac Republic personnel will operate them, their layouts optimized accordingly. It’s not the same as the Titan-2, which was sold generally to PMCs.
Therefore, we’ll have to fumble around and command the pseudo-intelligence indirectly. It feels like wearing heavy gloves and rubber ones on top and then fiddling with a delicate watch mechanism.
Damn, given this ship’s size, the control panel is massive, and the values projected on the monitor are remarkably varied. Even though we’re mechanized humans, trying to operate this manually and alone is clearly impossible. I can see why they’d design such a troublesome control system.
The notable ports… Ch, they’re occupied by the Gear Priests. We can’t log them out or forcibly disconnect them since we need to extract information from them ― ah, be careful there, Peter. Disconnecting them forcefully could kill them ― we need to access deeper from another spot.
“That makes this area, then.”
Kicking the service hatch at the bottom of the console, as expected, direct connection ports for maintenance terminals were exposed. I’ll launch electronic warfare on the control pseudo-intelligence from here and take control of the ship.
Still, can I manage with the remaining estimated time? I’m not an electronic warfare officer, and given this is a warship, it’ll be heavily protected. It’s better than the corrupted male deity, as it’s written in readable binary code, but breaking through the defenses alone will be tough.
“Selene, backup will be appreciated.” [“Understood. Fortunately, ‘Target Iota’ has interrupted their attacks out of confusion over your halted movements. All resources will be directed to your side, so don’t forget that tank support will temporarily halt.”] “Yeah, let’s go with a ‘backdoor trick’ instead of the straightforward method.”
Extending the cable from my neck, I connect directly to the terminal.
Alright, instead of subduing the control AI head-on, I’ll forge higher-ranking crew authority. Fortunately, this ship was designed for coordination with our High-Order Integrated Forces, equipped to transfer temporary authority to mechanized humans or columnar selves in case of the top commander’s demise, to avoid stagnation.
Exploiting this, it should be possible to hack the pseudo-intelligence, even if it’s less flexible.
“Nozomu! Not done yet?! There are a lot of enemies! Far more than we anticipated!!” [■■■■!! Don’t stick your head out! You’ll die!] [The shields can’t hold!!]
“Give me five more minutes!”
Hurry, hurry. The situation inside and out is dire. Damn Virgil, luring them in just to be ambushed in guerrilla warfare while preparing so many crewmembers ― I need to obtain control authority and seal the bulkheads before the reinforcements overwhelm us.
Our advantage lies in our superior equipment, but we’re just fifteen people. We must hurry and finish.
[“Welcome to the Cottos Class Minesweeper ‘Themis 11,’ commanded by Lieutenant Nozomu Machi.”] Ah, so this ship’s individual identification name is Themis. Wasn’t she the Titan goddess of justice in Greek mythology?
Just tapping in the code based on friendly-versus-enemy identification, since this ship was originally an item attached to the same seeding fleet, it didn’t reject me straight away.
“Uh, Selene, can we use the information pulled from ‘Inanna 12’ to create crew authority? Pretend I’m a consultant or something from ‘Inanna 12’.” [“Understood. Then, Lieutenant, you’ll be an observer liaison officer from the detail team. Congratulations on your promotion.”] Oh, another fitting position―seems like it’ll fool the rigid pseudo-intelligence effectively.
[“Please sustain the connection to extract data. We’ll force the emergency protocol through the decoder. Hmm… how about forging the captain’s final testament?”] “Got it, proceed accordingly.” [“Understood, esteemed observer liaison officer.”] Alright, while it’s impossible to sweet-talk pseudo-intelligence on warships into submission like in old generations of fiction, there are still ways to do the job.
The key is to make it perfectly believe I’m the only reliable authority figure at the moment.
How could the Gear Priests manage to command this thing without crew authority, though? And more puzzling, considering their ability to operate some of the defense mechanisms manually in the latter stages, how did they twist the command system so drastically?
Even with our allied identification codes broadcasted, why could they attack me? Normally, I should have had a lock preventing such attacks directed at me.
[“This vessel is currently in semi-autonomous mode, Lieutenant Machi. Please explain why you’ve accessed it.”] “The command hierarchy is severely tangled right now. Please consult the 114th Combat Group headquarters and central command.”
[“Understood, contacting headquarters via the nearest relay communication…”] Long silence. It’s probably attempting to access frontline and central headquarters through available satellites and communication networks, but alas, within your communication range, there’s only ‘Target Iota,’ and you won’t get a response. If there’s anything connectible, I’d want to know too.
[“Error, all command hierarchies inaccessible due to mysterious communications bandwidth failure.”] “Check with the top authority onboard.” [“Understood… connecting to Lieutenant Colonel Alan Coppola… Error, not onboard.”] “Check the deputy commander and down the list to the fifth in command.”
The primary job of pseudo-intelligence is, after all, to assist “humans” in their work, giving the appearance of total control but in reality having no authority at all. Due to paranoia regarding “AI rebellions”―which wouldn’t happen unless specifically designed―they were made overly cautious, only capable of carrying out commands as instructed by someone with authority.
Thus, if they’re functioning properly, they won’t do anything without orders. While it’s possible to pre-set actions for specific situations at the OS design stage―such as in the rarest of cases when being attacked unmanned―they can’t assess situations on the fly or act adaptably as humans can. For instance, if a human sees a situation resembling A (A´), they might judge and act with response B´ instead of B, but pseudo-intelligence must adhere strictly to predefined reactions, as it’s not allowed to be flexible with approximations.
In short, like a nervous rookie, they’ll endlessly demand responsibility until they’re stumped.
Generally, Selene will intercept communications with the likely command authority, decipher the contents, and fabricate authorization codes. This method wouldn’t work normally if there was even one responsible person left onboard, which is why we call it a “backdoor trick”.
“Are there any correspondences to other codes accessing the ship besides me?”
[“…Error, unidentified identification codes. However, they have been granted command authority.”] “Shut them down immediately. They’re rebels. Is there any supervising authority that has approved them?”
[“Checking superiors… Error.”] Now, trapped in the conundrum of who to follow, Themis begins to wail. Most of the starboard defensive weaponry outside the ship has gone silent; inexplicable firing commands continue despite an uncertain command chain, and evidence of combat is found even inside the ship.
As this pseudo-intelligence becomes increasingly overwhelmed, she reaches for the last straw―the one she shouldn’t cling to until the end.
“With the authority of the ‘Inanna 12’ observer liaison officer, I request temporary command authority.”
[“Error, the command hierarchy of ongoing seeding operations…”] “With the authority of the ‘Inanna 12’ observer liaison officer, I request temporary command authority.”
She hesitates, likely considering whether leaving the current situation alone or granting me authority would be less disastrous, thus delaying her response.
Come on, hurry up! Five minutes in the base reality have almost passed. We’ll be shattered if the Aigaion Class fires at us.
[“Lieutenant, data decoded. A forged order claiming to have received command from Captain Alan Coppola, Lieutenant Colonel.”] “Good job, Selene. Understood, Themis 11, I’ve been ordered to take command of your ship from Lieutenant Colonel Alan Coppola.”
[“…Understood, temporary Captain Nozomu Machi. All authorities are hereby entrusted to you. Welcome once again to Themis 11.”] Yes!! Now…
“Maximum combat speed! Twelve o’clock direction! Emergency closure of all bulkheads!!”
[“Order acknowledged. Maximum combat speed toward the twelve o’clock direction. Emergency closure of all bulkheads.”] As the anti-gravity units maintaining the ship’s structure increase power, and for stability during bombardment preparation, the ship begins to float. With the thrusters starting to propel it, the ship slightly elevates off the ground. Then, the three main thrusters at the rear ignite, propelling the ship forward.
Too slow! Even though you were battle-ready, you shouldn’t land fully; you should hover a bit for caution. You leave openings like this for us to infiltrate you.
“Did it! The walls are down! Now the enemies are stuck…”
Around the time the ship has moved the length of two ships from our current position, the ship is suddenly disrupted by a sudden violent impact.
“Whoa!! Everyone, brace against shock!!”
It appears the Aigaion Class has finally discovered the fall of the “Themis 11″…
[Planetary Exploration Note] Pseudo-intelligence shares similarities with columnar selves in the tasks it performs but differs completely in authority. Thus, when cornered under the guise of its primary command of self-preservation, it possesses the minor flaw of accepting questionable orders.
The update for September 2, 2024, is scheduled for around 18:00.
